Here’s how it used to work, back when we had mule deer.
Would be a deer camp of 4-5 hunters. Two would shoot spikes or two points the first couple days. They’d be happy with that. Success. Then everybody would be done hunting and go home. At the same time you could take a kid or old timer out and find them a spike or two point opening weekend.
Now same camp of hunters hunts and hunts and hunts. They stay for the whole season. Because they’re out so long pounding the woods they kill one or maybe two mature bucks. If they would have left early like back in the day those breeders would have survived again. When the whole camp doesn’t get anything they say what fun they had just hunting. The old timers quit buying tags (me now) and the kids lose interest and don’t go out.
On the deer side. So now we’ve got fewer mature bucks. Who are more experienced breeders, genetically superior to a buck that was born a spike or smooth horn two point, and are more adept at eluding predators.
We’ve got a preponerance of inferior spikes and smooth horn two points that will always either be spikes or two points, or throw weak middlin horns.
We’ve got young bucks not being chased off does by mature bucks. So young bucks are falling off does, and pestering them, making the does burn more energy trying to keep them off. Weve got late fawns being born because the doe didn’t get bred the first cycle. Late fawns die. We’ve got inferior breeding stock producing inferior spike and smooth horn two points until the deer are gone.
Not everyone wants big antlers. But I’ve always said if you want to grow big horns, every spike or smooth horn 2 point should be knocked in the head the day it’s born. Or at least the first year it throws horns.
